'''Gay marriage''' refers to [[marriage]] between two people of the same [[sex]]. This is currently a controversial political issue in the United States and elsewhere. Gay marriage is currently legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the US state of Massachusetts.

+

{{wikipedia|Same-sex marriage}}

+

+

'''Gay marriage''' refers to [[marriage]] between two people of the same [[sex]]. This is currently a controversial political issue in the United States and elsewhere. Gay marriage is currently legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the US states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Iowa. The District of Columbia, better known as Washington D.C., the capital of the US, will begin allowing same sex marriages in February 2010.

== Arguments for gay marriage ==

== Arguments for gay marriage ==

Revision as of 03:52, 18 January 2010

Gay marriage refers to marriage between two people of the same sex. This is currently a controversial political issue in the United States and elsewhere. Gay marriage is currently legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the US states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Iowa. The District of Columbia, better known as Washington D.C., the capital of the US, will begin allowing same sex marriages in February 2010.

Arguments for gay marriage

In July 2007, Austin Cline ran a poll on his weblog asking whether atheists should be allowed to marry.[1] Respondents overwhelmingly said that marriage is a civil institution, not a religious one (it should be kept in mind that this poll was posted on an atheist weblog, and therefore the distribution of respondents was certainly skewed).

Cline then draws the obvious conclusion:

"If religion isn't a good reason to prevent atheists from getting married, how can it be a good reason to prevent gays from getting married?"

Arguments against gay marriage

Both religious and secular arguments have been presented against gay marriage. It is notable, however, that most of the opponents of gay marriage—certainly the most vocal ones—present religious arguments, either alone or in addition to secular arguments. Rarely, if ever, does anyone present secular arguments alone. This leads to the conclusion that opposition to gay marriage is primarily rooted in religious beliefs. Arguments from religious beliefs fail as arguments since there is no evidence to suggest any holy book is true, and places like the United States have separation of church and state.